"Our Q2 financial performance was disappointing," he said. "The desktop PC market around the world weakened during the quarter. And our miscalculation of competitive price position further pressured our desktop GPU business."

To assuage investors, Nvidia announced that it would buy back an additional $1bn worth of stock, kicking its total repurchase program up to $2.7bn.

This move seemed enough to please investors in the short-term with shares popping up more than 10 per cent in after-hours trading. ®